SGS Notes: If you see prices dropping on gold and silver, don't be dismayed… don't be alarmed… this has been predicted by the experts for some time just before the upside begins… These corrections will happen as the price manipulation is brought under control with the coming position limits.. and the consequential sale of paper silver/gold. Use the drops to buy as much as you can. Then, once the manipulation ends, hang on to your precious metals and … Hang on for the ride.

Gold and Silver Capitulation is NearNational Inflation Association

On Tuesday, the price of gold fell $25.10 to $1,158 per ounce while the price of silver declined by $0.57 to $17.63 per ounce. Based on the emails and phone calls we have received in recent days, NIA believes we are approaching a capitulation point in gold and silver prices. The sentiment on gold and silver has abruptly changed to the negative like nothing we have ever seen before and to us this means the big move to the upside is right around the corner.

If you do a Google search for, "There is no inflation", it will bring up a shocking 385,000 web results and almost all of the articles are related to the U.S. economy. Investors around to globe are pointing to the consumer price index (CPI), which shows prices only up 1.05% from one year ago, and saying that inflation in the U.S. is not a problem. The most popular forecast by Wall Street analysts today is that the U.S. is headed for a long period of deflation, similar to Japan's "Lost Decade". NIA is currently in the process of dissecting exactly what took place during Japan's "Lost Decade". We are producing a short movie comparing Japan's economy to the U.S. economy and it will be released in the coming weeks.

NIA considers gold to be the best gauge of inflation, not the CPI. Most experts on Wall Street chalk up gold's rise from $255.95 to $1,158 this decade to rising fears and uncertainties and increasing jewelry demand from India, while maintaining that there is no inflation because the CPI says so. They fail to realize that the government has an agenda to minimize CPI increases in order to keep Social Security payment increases as low as possible. In the future, if the government decides to bailout their banker friends from hyperinflation by adjusting mortgage contracts to the rate of inflation, NIA predicts they will adjust mortgage principles based on the price of gold and not the CPI.

This past weekend, the New York Times wrote a front page article about how hedge fund manager Anthony Ward, through his private investment fund Armajaro, has purchased enough cocoa to make five billion chocolate bars. Ward took delivery of 240,100 tonnes of cocoa, the biggest delivery in 14 years and about 7% of the world's annual production of cocoa. Some are calling this an attempt to corner the cocoa market, similar to how the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market decades ago. Many people believe Ward is trying to create an artificial cocoa shortage in an attempt to artificially manipulate cocoa prices to the upside for his personal benefit and to the detriment of chocolate lovers everywhere.

NIA considers it to be outrageous for so much attention to be paid to Ward and his long position in cocoa, when the mainstream media continues to ignore JP Morgan and their concentrated short position in silver. Ward's long position of 7% of the world's annual cocoa production pales in comparison to JP Morgan's short position of 20% of the world's annual silver production. Ward purchased this cocoa using his firm's own funds. JP Morgan sold silver that it neither owned or legitimately borrowed.

Almost nobody realizes that when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market, they intended to profit not from their silver position itself, but from the actual production of silver from a mine they were getting ready to open. If their plan succeeded, the Hunt brothers would have likely become the richest family in the history of America. NIA knows what mine the Hunt brothers were secretly getting ready to open. Believe it or not, the infrastructure that the Hunt brothers put into place is still just sitting there today untouched.

Ted Butler
Weekly interview with King World News
This week, talks about the effect
of position limits on the
Silver & Gold Markets.

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“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought on by credit and Fiat monetary expansion. The only question is whether the crisis should come sooner in the form of a Recession or later as a final and total Catastrophe of Depression as the currency systems crumble.”

Gold: Down But Not Out
Despite gold's eight percent drop this past month, the commodity is still the world's "currency of first resort," Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital, told CNBC.

Eric Sprott
Chairman, CEO & Portfolio Manager
Sprott Asset Management
Eric has been stunningly accurate in his writings for over a decade, and is one of the highly respected industry professionals who was able to foresee the current crisis. He chronicled the dangers of excessive leverage as well as the bubbles the Fed was creating, while correctly forecasting the tragic collapse we are all enduring.

SGS Notes: This week's article is a little different from our normal content. If you were sitting on our end of the phones, you would understand how frequently we get asked questions about the potential use of silver and gold as barter currency. While we cannot be crystal-ball readers, we can point to some very good resources from folks who do projections and scenarios professionally... So, this is our attempt to help answer some of those questions.

What is Money When the System Collapses?By Mark Slavo
From SHTFplan.com

What is money?

Economist Mike Shedlock defines money through the eyes of Austrian economist Murray N. Rothbard as “a commodity used as a medium of exchange.”

“Like all commodities, it has an existing stock, it faces demands by people to buy and hold it. Like all commodities, its “price” in terms of other goods is determined by the interaction of its total supply, or stock, and the total demand by people to buy and hold it. People “buy” money by selling their goods and services for it, just as they “sell” money when they buy goods and services.”

What is money when the system collapses and the SHTF?

In disaster situations, the value of money as we know it now changes, especially if we are dealing with a hyperinflationary collapse of the system’s core currency. This article discusses money as a commodity in an event where the traditional currency (US Dollar) is no longer valuable.

In a collapse of the system, there will be multiple phases, with the first phase being the “crunch”, as discussed in James Rawles‘ book Patriots. The crunch is the period of time directly preceding a collapse and the collapse itself.

Traditional Currency

Initially, the traditional currency system will maintain some value, though it may be rapidly depreciating in buying power. For those with physical, non-precious metal denominated currency on hand (paper dollars, non-silver coins), spending it as rapidly as possible is the best approach.

It is during the crunch that ATM machines around the country will run out of currency as people aware of the rapidly devaluing dollar will be attempting to withdraw as much money as possible. This immediate increase in money supply, coupled with the population’s general knowledge of the currency depreciation in progress, will lead to instant price increases for goods, especially essential goods.

If your physical cash has not been converted into tangible assets, this would be the time to do so. Acquiring as much food, fuel, clothing and toiletry items as possible would be the ideal way to spend remaining cash before it completely collapses to zero, as it did in the Weimar inflation in 1930’s Germany, or Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation in recent years.

Precious Metals

During the initial phase of the ‘crunch’ precious metals will be a primary bartering tool, but this may not last long. The old survivalist adage “you can’t eat your gold” will become apparent very quickly. In a total breakdown of the system, food, water and fuel will be the most important tangible goods to acquire.

Consider someone who has a two week or one month supply of food on hand. Do you believe they would be willing to part with that food for some precious metals? The likely answer is no. There will be almost no bartering item that one would be willing to trade their food for once it is realized that food supply lines have been cut.

That being said, since most will not barter their food, not even for fuel, the next recognized medium of exchange by merchants, especially those selling fuel, will be precious metals. For the initial crunch, silver coins, especially recognizable coins like 90% silver quarters, dimes and half dollars, along with one (1) ounce government mint issued silver coins like US Silver Eagles, will be accepted by some, probably most, merchants. For those trying to flee cities to bug-out locations, silver coins of the aforementioned denominations may be a life saver, as they can be used to acquire fuel. While we recommend having gold, as well, the issue with gold is that its value is so much higher than that of silver, that breaking a one ounce gold coin into 10 pieces just to buy a tank of gas will not be practical. It is for this reason that having silver on hand is highly recommended. Packing at least $25 - $50 of silver coins in each bug-out bag would be a prudent prepping idea. (SGS Note: We think the 1/4 and 1/2 oz .999 fractional silver and divisible silver will also be good for use with vendors due to its higher silver content. A savvy vendor will accept any silver or gold bullion - not just Eagles.)

In a total SHTF scenario, silver and gold may eventually break down as a bartering unit, as contact with the “outside” world breaks down. One reason for this, is that the fair value price of precious metals will be hard to determine, as it will be difficult to locate buyers for this commodity. (SGS Note: This is one reason we want to start building a barter community together. We also plan to implement a 'buy back' system in the not-too-distant future, but we're recommending that our customers hold on to their silver for the time being.)

This, however, does not mean that you should spend all of your precious metals right at the onset of a collapse. Precious metals will have value after bartering and trade is reestablished once the system begins to stabilize. Once stabilization begins, the likely scenario is that precious metals will be one of the most valuable monetary units available, so having plenty may be quite a benefit. At this point, they could be used to purchase property, livestock, services and labor.

Water

Water is often overlooked as a medium of exchange, though it is one of the most essential commodities for survival on the planet. Had individuals in New Orleans stockpiled some water supplies during Hurricane Katrina, much of the loss of life there could have been avoided.

For those bugging out of cities, it will be impractical to carry with them more than 5 - 10 gallons of water because of space limitations in their vehicles. Thus, having a method to procure water may not only save your life, but also provide you with additional goods for which you can barter.

An easy solution for providing yourself and others with clean water is to acquire a portable water filtration unit for your bug-out bag(s). While they are a bit costly, with a good unit such as the Katadyn Combi water filter running around $150, the water produced will be worth its weight in gold, almost literally. This particular filter produces 13,000 gallons of clean water! A Must have for any survival kit.

Because we like reserves for our reserves, we’d also recommend acquiring water treatment tablets like the EPA approved Katadyn Micropur tabs. If your filter is lost or breaks for whatever reason, each tablet can purify 1 liter of water. In our opinion, the best chemical water treatment available.

Clean water is money. In a bartering environment, especially before individuals have had time to establish water sources, this will be an extremely valuable medium of exchange and will have more buying power than even silver or gold on the individual bartering level.

SGS Barter Links

We would like to begin a section on our Web site and in our weekly Newsletter where we publish links to vendors who accept silver and gold in exchange for goods and services. These can be local to any area or online vendors.

If you are interested or know of a vendor who is interested, please have them contact us by phone or eMail (see contact info below). Together we can build this list for the betterment of everyone.

One effective way we've found to locate vendors, is, when shopping routinely, to simply ask them if they would consider accepting silver or gold as payment for their product(s). We know it sounds way too simple... but a genuine inquiry is really a door-opener.

If a vendor says 'no' ... that's fine... but often they will be curious and want to you to paint a scenario for them or explain how that would work for them. This is an open door...

My personal hairdresser is now accepting silver in exchange for my grooming services...

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“Only people suffused with a level of self-entitlement that is completely absurd could demand that their concerns be completely divorced from fiscal reality. The public service unions’ mantra can be reduced to one phrase, as in’ you can get blood from a stone.’ And their prevailing attitude is now quite familiar to most Americans: 'Screw everyone else, give me mine.'”

Arnold Ahlert

This Week's Video

! Special Notice !

Due the recent rate increase by
American Express
We can no longer accept American Express Credit Cards.
We apologize for this inconvenience for our AMEX cardholders, but we do not wish to raise our pricing structures for everyone, just to accommodate the increase in charges for this card provider.

Food

In a system collapse, food will be another of the core essential items that individuals will want to acquire. We suggest storing food for 1) personal use 2) charity 3) bartering.

Dry goods, canned goods, freeze dried foods can be used for bartering, but only if you have enought to feed yourself, family and friends. They should be bartered by expiration date, with those foods with the expiration dates farthest out being the last to be traded. You don’t know how long the crunch and recovery periods will last, so hold the foods with the longest expiration dates in your posession if you get to a point where you must trade.

Baby formula will also be a highly valued item in a SHTF scenario, so whether you have young children or not, it may not be a bad idea to stockpile a one or two week supply. (For parents of young children, this should be the absolute first thing you should be stockpiling!). In addition to water, baby formula may be one of the most precious of all monetary commodities.

Another tradeable food good would be seeds, but the need for these may not be apparent to most at the initial onset of a collapse, though having extra seeds in your bug-out location may come in handy later.

Fuel

Fuel, including gas, diesel, propane and kerosene will all become barterable goods in a collapse, with gas being the primary of these energy monetary units during the crunch as individuals flee cities. For most, stockpiling large quantities will be impractical, so for those individuals who prepared, they may only have 20 - 50 gallons in their possession as they are leaving their homes. If you are near your final bug-out destination, and you must acquire food, water or firearms, fuel may be a good medium of exchange, especially for those that have extra food stuffs they are willing to trade.

Though we do not recommend expending your fuel, if you are left with no choice, then food, water and clothing may take precedence.

For those with the ability to do so, store fuel in underground tanks on your property for later use and trading.

Firearms and Ammunition

Though firearms and ammunition may not be something you want to give up, those without them will be willing to trade some of their food, precious metals, fuel and water for personal security. If the system collapses, there will likely be pandemonium, and those without a way to protect themselves will be sitting ducks to thieves, predators and gangs.

Even in if you choose not to trade your firearms and ammo during the onset of a collapse, these items will be valuable later. As food supplies diminish, those without firearms will want to acquire them so they can hunt for food. Those with firearms may very well be running low on ammunition and will be willing to trade for any of the aforementioned items.

In James Rawles’ Patriots and William Forstchen’s One Second After, ammunition was the primary trading good during the recovery and stabilization periods, where it was traded for food, clothing, shoes, livestock, precious metals and fuel.

Clothing and Footwear

We may take it for granted now because of the seemingly endless supply, but clothing and footwear items will be critical in both, the crunch and the phases after it. Having an extra pair of boots, a jacket, socks, underwear and sweaters can be an excellent way to acquire other essential items in a trade.

As children grow out of their clothes, rather than throwing them away, they will become barterable goods.

It is recommended that those with children stock up on essential clothing items like socks, underwear and winter-wear that is sized a year or two ahead of your child’s age.

Additional Monetary Commodities

The above monetary units are essential goods that will be helpful for bartering in the initial phases of a collapse in the system. As the crunch wanes and recovery and stabilization begin to take over, other commodities will become tradable goods.

In A Free Falling Economy Makes Bartering Go Boom, Tess Pennington provides some other examples of items that will be bartering goods during and after a crunch including, vitamins, tools, livestock, fishing supplies, coffee and medical supplies.

Another important monetary commodity after the crunch will be trade skills. If you know how to fish, machine tools, hunt, sew, fix and operate radios, fix cars, manufacture shoes, or grow food, you’ll have some very important skills during the recovery period.

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Phone: 888-203-2232 x 1

Historical Silver: Gold Ratio Suggests Parabolic Top For Silver of Over $100 per Ounce!By Lorimer Wilson

Approximately 70 respected economists, academics, gold analysts and market commentators (see list below) are of the firm opinion that gold is going to go to at least $2,500 if not as high as $10,000 per ounce (or more) before the parabolic top is reached. As such, just imagine what is in store for silver given its historical price relationship with gold. We’re looking at an extreme case scenario of a future parabolic top of perhaps as much as $714 per ounce for silver, the ‘poor man’s gold’. Let me explain.

The current price of gold and the price of silver – the silver:gold ratio - continues to hover around the 67:1 range which is way out of whack with the historical relationship between the two precious metals. It begs the question:

“Is now the perfect time to buy silver instead of the much more expensive gold metal?”

It is critical to step away from all the noise and clutter that passes for knowledge and take the time to gain perspective on where the price of gold and silver are in terms of the ‘big picture’, i.e., where they are in their individual performance channels and in respect to their historical relationship with each other over the long, medium and short term and, based on those relationships, how they might perform in the future.

Bull Market Stages

The key to a secular gold/silver bull is the collective gold/silver transactions of investors worldwide buying and selling gold/silver that ultimately sets the price and determines their fortunes. The collective demand trends of gold/silver investors effectively divide precious metals bulls into 3 distinct demand-driven stages, namely:

1. Stage One which occurs when a devaluation of the dominant currency in which gold is priced, i.e. the USD, leads to a moderate increase in the price of gold. Stage One for gold began on February 15th, 2001 when it reached a 22-year secular low of just $255.10.

2. Stage Two which occurs when the decoupling of gold from local-currency devaluation begins to outpace the dollar’s losses and gold starts rising significantly in virtually all currencies worldwide. Stage Two began on June 5th, 2005 when gold (at $417.67US) first surpassed 350 Euros for the first time.

3. Stage Three which occurs when the general public around the world starts investing in gold and this deluge of capital into gold causes it to escalate dramatically (i.e. to go parabolic) in price. We are approaching Stage Threeand it will become clearly evident when the price for gold begins its daily record ascents to dramatically higher prices.

Gold

We are now in the very early stages of Stage Three with gold having gone up 24% in 2009 and up 13.3% in the first 6 months of 2010. As such there are no shortage of prognosticators who see gold going parabolic reminiscent of 1979 when gold rose 289.3% in the course of just over a year (from a $216.55 closing price on Jan. 1, 1979 to a closing price of $843 per ounce barely a year later on Jan. 21, 1980) and 128% higher in a late-1979 parabolic blow-off of just under 11 weeks! A 289% increase in the price of gold from $1250 would put gold at $4,866. That being the case what appear on the surface to be rather outlandish projections of what the bull market in gold will top out at don’t seem quite so far-fetched.

Below is a list of the parabolic tops for gold as discussed in articles and/or speeches by well known economists, academics, market analysts and financial commentators. Their prognoses are limited to those above the CPI adjusted 2010 price of $2,300 and they are grouped according to the extent each individual sees gold appreciating over the next few years (and next few months in a few cases).

The list below is provided on my site - with a link to the actual article in which each estimate was put forth if you care to check out the rationale behind each individual’s projections.

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“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns-or dollars. Take your choice-there is no other-and your time is running out.”

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She first achieved fame in 1943 with her novel The Fountainhead, which in 1957 was followed by her best-known work, the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged.

Silver has proven itself, time and again, to be a safe haven for investors during times of economic uncertainty and, as such, with the current economy in difficulty the silver market has become a flight to quality investment vehicle. The 49% increase in silver in 2009 attests to that in spades (albeit up only 10% in the first 6 months of 2010). During the last parabolic phase for silver in 1979/80 silver went from a low of $5.94 on January 2nd, 1979 to a close of $49.45 in early January, 1980 which represented an increase of 732.5% in just over one year. Such a percentage increase from the current price for silver would represent a future parabolic top price of $155. Frankly, such prices seem impossible in practical terms but that is what the numbers tell us.

Silver:Gold Ratio

How both gold and silver perform, in and of themselves, does not tell the complete picture by a long shot, however. More important is the price relationship – the correlation – of one to the other over time which is called the silver:gold ratio.

Based on silver’s historical correlation r-square with gold of approximately 90 - 95% silver’s daily trading action almost always mirrors, and usually amplifies, underlying moves in gold. With significant increases in the price of gold expected over the next few years even greater increases are anticipated in silver’s price movement in the months and years to come because silver is currently seriously undervalued relative to gold as the following historical relationships attests.

Let’s look at the silver:gold ratio from several different perspectives:

- Over the past 125 years the mean silver:gold ratio (i.e. 50% above and 50% below) has been 45.69 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold.

- In the last 25 years (since 1985) the mean silver:gold ratio has increased to 66.9:1

- The present silver:gold ratio is range-bound between 63:1 and 70:1 (66.77:1 at the end of June 2010).

- Interestingly, during the build-up to the parabolic blow-off in 1979/80 silver outpaced gold going up 732.5% vs. gold’s 289.3% causing the ratio to drop from 38:1 in January 1979 to 13.99:1 at the parabolic peak for both metals in January,1980.

Conclusions:

There are many! Let’s look at the various price levels for gold and the various silver:gold ratios mentioned above one by one and see what conclusions we can draw.

First let’s use the mid-year (June 30th, 2010) price of $1243 for gold and apply the various silver:gold ratios mentioned above and see what they do for the potential % increase in, and price of, silver.

Now let’s apply the projections made above by the various economists, academics, gold analysts and market commentators listed above to the silver:gold ratio and see what that suggests is the parabolic top for silver.

@ $10,000 Gold

Gold @ $10,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 66:1 puts silver at $150

Gold @ $10,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 45:1 puts silver at $222

Gold @ $10,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 14:1 puts silver at $714!!

(For what it is worth Jim Sinclair’s projection of $17,000 gold might well mean that silver would reach a parabolic top of $1,215 per ounce based on a 14:1 silver to gold correlation.)

@ $5,000 Gold

Gold @ $5,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 66.1 puts silver at $75

Gold @ $5,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 45:1 puts silver at $111

Gold @ $5,000 using the silver:gold ratio of 14:1 puts silver at $357

@ $2,500 Gold

Gold @ $2,500 using the silver:gold ratio of 66:1 puts silver at $38

Gold @ $2,500 using the silver:gold ratio of 45:1 puts silver at $55.50

Gold @ $2,500 using the silver:gold ratio of 14:1 puts silver at $178.50

From the above it seems that, any way we look at it, physical silver is currently undervalued compared to gold bullion and is in position to generate substantially greater returns than investing in gold bullion.

Summary

History will look back at the artificially high silver to gold ratio of the past century as an anomaly, caused by the dollar bubble and the world being deceived into believing that fiat currencies are real money, when in fact they’re all an illusion. This fiat currency experiment will end badly in a currency crisis. The wealthiest people will be those who bought silver today and were smart enough to research and pick the best silver mining stocks and warrants.

Indeed, while gold’s meteoric rise still has room to run, silver’s run is yet to get started. As such, it certainly appears evident that now is the time to buy all things silver.

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We want you to own silver, the miraculous metal. If you read carefully about the thousands of uses for this indispensable metal, perhaps you will see the wisdom in buying it. Look at the seemingly infinite uses of this strategic metal. Bothrechargeable and disposable batteriesare manufactured with silver alloys. Billions of silver oxide-zinc batteries are supplied to world markets
yearly, including miniature sized batteries for watches, cameras, and small electronic devices and larger batteries for tools and TV cameras.

Steel bearings electroplated with high purity silver have great fatigue strength and load carrying capacity for use in hi-tech and heavy-duty applications. Silver coated bearings provide superior performance and safety for jet engines.

Silver solder facilitates the joining of materials and produces smooth, leak-tight and corrosion-resistant joints. Silver brazing alloys are used in air-conditioning, refrigeration, power distribution, automobiles and aerospace. Silver's unique combination of properties are of the first importance for plumbers, appliance manufacturers, electronics and a host of manufacturing industries.

Chemical reactions can be significantly increased by adding
elements that do not enter into the reaction, and silver is one of those elements. Approximately 700 tons of silver are in continuous use in the world's chemical industry for the production of plastics. Silver is essential for producing a class of plastics which includes adhesives, laminating resins for construction, plywood, particle board, finishes for paper and electronic equipment, textiles, surface coatings that resist heat and scratches, dinnerware, buttons, casings for appliances, handles and knobs, packaging materials, automotive parts, thermal and electrical insulating materials, toys, and the list goes on.

Silver, the miracle metal, is necessary for producing soft plastics used in polyester textiles for all types of clothing and specialty fabrics. It's used for molded items such as insulating handles for stoves, key tops for computers, electrical control knobs, appliance components, and Mylar tape which make up 100% of all audio,VCR, and other types of recording tapes. It's also used to produce antifreeze coolant for automobiles and cleaning solvents.

Silver is a recognized powerful oxidizer. Metallurgists have long known the unique affinity of silver with oxygen. Molten silver will hold ten times its volume in oxygen.The oxidizing power of silver has worldwide application in numerous industries.

Silver is used in bullion, commemorative and proof coins around the world. It has wide usage in silverware, jewelry and the decorative arts.

Silver is the best electrical conductor of all metals and is used in conductors, switches, contacts and fuses. Ordinary household wall switches, and virtually all switch contacts, use silver because it does not corrode, or cause overheating and fires.The use of silver for motor control switches is universal.

In the home, all electrical appliances, timers, thermostats and sump pumps use silver contacts. A typical washing machine requires 16 silver contacts to control its electric motor, pump, and gear clutch. A fully-equipped automobile may have over 40 silver-tipped switches to start the engine, activate power steering, brakes, windows, mirrors, locks, and other electrical accessories.

Silver relays are used in washing machines, dryers, automobile
accessories, vacuum cleaners, electric drills, elevators, escalators, machine tools, and so on up to railway locomotives, marine diesel engines and oil-well drilling motors whose performance is required to be flawless. For circuit breakers, silver combines the highest heat conductivity and the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, with almost unlimited performance.

Silver is also widely used in electronics, including silkscreened circuit paths, membrane switches, electrically heated automobile windows, and conductive adhesives. Every time a home owner turns on a microwave oven, dishwasher, clothes washer, or television set, the action activates a switch with silver contacts that completes the required electrical circuit.The majority of the keyboards of desk-top and lap-top computers use silver membrane switches.These are found behind the buttons of control panels for cable television, telephones, microwave ovens, learning toys and the keyboards of typewriters and computers. Due to their reliability and wide use, the silver-contact membrane switch market in the U.S. is a multi-billion dollar industry.

The silver we urge you to own is truly indispensable to a modern society. A new electronic application for “smart tags” promises to use significant quantities of silver. From grocery items to pre-paid toll gizmos, Radio Frequency Identification or RFID devices are coming on in a big way. Not only are these tiny 'smart tags' fast replacing bar codes at the checkout counter, but they're being used to prevent shoplifting, trigger warehouse inventory counts and will soon make an appearance imbedded in credit cards and passports. Although the amount of silver used in each smart tag is miniscule, tens of millions of throwaway tags are expected to be produced in coming years and the applications appear virtually endless. Silver makes a perfect antenna because it is highly conductive and malleable.

Another important use of silver is for printed circuit boards (PCBs) that use silver for connecting paths of electronic circuitry and are essential to the electronics that control the operation of aircraft, automobile engines, electrical appliances, security systems, telecommunication networks, mobile telephones and television receivers.

The use of silvered windshields in General Motor's all purpose vehicles reflects away some 70% of the solar energy that would otherwise enter the car, reducing the load on air conditioners in summer. Every automobile produced in America has a silver-ceramic line fired into the rear window.The heat generated by these conductive paths clears the rear window of frost and ice.

The ease of electroplating silver accounts for its widespread use in coating. Silver plating is used in a wide variety of applications from Christmas tree ornaments to cutlery and hollowware. Silver possesses working qualities similar to gold but enjoys greater reflectivity and can achieve the most brilliant polish of any metal.

This unique optical reflectivity, and its property of being virtually 100% reflective after polishing, allows it to be used in mirrors and in coatings for glass, cellophane or metals. Everyone is accustomed to silvered mirrors. What is new is invisible silver, a transparent coating of silver on double pane thermal windows.This coating not only rejects the hot summer sun, but also reflects inward internal house heat. A new double layer of silver on glass is sweeping the window market, as it reflects away almost 95% of the hot rays of the sun, creating a new level of household energy savings. Over 250 million square feet of silver-coated glass is used for domestic windows in the U.S. yearly, and much more for silver coated polyester sheet for retrofitting windows.

Silver has a variety of uses in pharmaceuticals. In fact, silver sulfadiazine is the most powerful compound for burn treatment. It is used world-wide. In another application catheters impregnated with silver sulfadiazine eliminate bacteria. In a world concerned with the spreading of virus and disease, silver is increasingly being tapped for its bactericidal properties and used in treatments for conditions ranging from severe burns to Legionnaires Disease.

One out of every seven pairs of prescription eyeglasses sold in the U.S. incorporates silver. Silver halide crystals, melted into glass can change the light transmission from 96% to 22% in less than 60 seconds and block at least 97% of the sun's ultraviolet rays.

The photographic process is based on the presence of silver halide crystals suspended on an unexposed film. Silver-based photography has superior definition and low cost. It's the biggest user of silver.The use of silver worldwide in X-rays consumes millions of ounces more.

Silver paste is used in 90% of all solar cells. Sunlight striking silicon cells generates electrons, which the silver conductors collect to become a useful electric current. In the collection of solar energy, silver is the best reflector of thermal energy (after gold).

Silver is employed as a bactericide and algaecide in an ever increasing number of water purification systems. Silver ions have been used to purify drinking water and swimming pool water for generations. New research into silver compounds is providing physicians with powerful, clinically effective treatments against which bacteria cannot develop resistance. Silver ions in house
frames help resist mold and mildew, something that has plagued the building industry for decades.

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"Gold and silver play identical roles when conventional investments go sour. They act as a storehouse of value. Whenever currencies fail and economies contract, people turn to gold and silver. Whenever
bankruptcies and defaults sweep through a nation or a credit collapse shakes the financial foundations, people rush into precious metals. Gold and silver
protect against loose money and credit. Silver acted as a perfect hedge against the inflation of the 1970’s.

Silver promises to act as a bulwark against inflation, a falling dollar and depression. That’s a primary reason to buy silver. It’s one of the best means of preserving capital. Any pending price rise because of short supply and industrial demand is a bonus. Silver will let you keep what you have in the face of today’s unfolding economic problems. Ten to twenty percent of your net worth in silver will keep you hedged, keep the rest of your wealth insured and keep you partially outside the paper and credit woes of a highly leveraged financial system.

Investment Rarities

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The UN Moves to Remove the Dollar as the Global Commodities Currency

Silver is a commodity that has been known and used since the dawn of civilization like gold, copper, grain, and fibers. For thousands of years silver was produced and utilized by man, mostly in coinage, jewelry and utensils. It was coveted by the ancient Egyptians. It was in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of it. To some extent, the Western Hemisphere was discovered,
plundered and developed because of it. Silver was taken from the earth’s crust and accumulated. It clearly altered history and trading patterns throughout Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. It was
at the heart of monetary systems of most nations in the world, including the United States. Then came two discoveries that would benefit just about every inhabitant of the world. Silver as the best conductor of electricity, and the key critical material in photography, went from being desired and coveted through the ages to something much more. It went from an object of desire to an object of necessity. Now all the silver from the time of the Pharaohs, the Romans, Marco Polo, and the Conquistadors is gone.We mined billions of ounces of silver throughout history. Where did all the silver go? Industrial consumption.

Going, Going, Gone!by Ted Butler

Please understand and envision that 50 centuries’ worth of accumulated silver production is gone forever.This is the most bullish factor that any world commodity ever experienced. The fact that such big hoards of silver have disappeared means we are fast approaching a time when no more silver is available to industry at today’s low prices. There won’t be enough supply to go around.We will have to ration what supply there is.

There will be great pressure by the silver industrial consumers to get silver at any cost. Individuals may not need silver to survive, but industrial users do. It’s a matter of life and death to them. When the assembly lines are threatened with shut down due to lack of material, do not expect the silver consumers to sit idly by and watch their companies die. They will do all in their power to assure a steady supply of silver.

How many times do you think opportunities like this, for the average guy, have occurred throughout history? I don’t think ever. Nor do I ever think there will be such an opportunity in my lifetime again.Will you ever see the cheapest historical price for a commodity at the time of its greatest historical demand? Will you ever again see anything in chronic short supply selling at a grossly undervalued price level? Will you ever see such low risk?

Never! In my opinion you will never see a market so convoluted or insanely undervalued ever again.

New Technologyby David Morgan

“When electricity is generated, not all the power reaches the end user. A large percentage of it is simply eroded away by the resistance it encounters in the lines through which it is transmitted. In fact, this ‘line loss’ sometimes runs in excess of 30 percent. However, there is a method that, for practical purposes, can reduce the line loss to almost nothing. It involves a technology called superconductivity.” One of the companies developing this technology is American Superconductor
Corporation, who claims to be “a world leader in developing and manufacturing products utilizing superconducting materials and power electronic devices for electric power applications.”

“According to the Silver Institute backgrounder, the superconductivity technology requires one ton of silver per mile of superconducting transmission line. A ton per mile! Now that’s a lot of silver – a reality you have to admit even if you’re bearish on silver.To illustrate, let’s hypothesize a transmission line from New York to San Francisco – a line that would require about 3,000 miles of superconducting wire. That would be 3,000 tons of silver. Stated in more familiar terms, that’s approximately 96 million ounces of silver. Ninety-six million! That’s roughly one-quarter of last year’s total industrial consumption of silver – for just one transmission line.

“There’s absolutely no evidence of an impending drop in industrial demand for silver. Although you certainly don’t read about most of them in the popular press, more and more applications are developed for silver every year – especially in the high-technology sector. In fact, there are so many new uses that silver might possibly be viewed as the ultimate ‘technology stock.’”